Rumbelle & the Raven's Army
by MasterQuill7
Summary: Rumbelle Hogwarts AU: Rum Gold attends his 6th year at Hogwarts while dealing with the looming threat his father, Colin has placed on the magical world. (A lot of original characters involved)


Rumford Gold awoke in the sanctity of his own bedroom, on what appeared to be a hotter than usual, summer morning. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at the open window. His snowy owl, Winter, was perched on the window sill, a dead mouse dangling from her beak. What a lovely image to wake up to, he thought. He sat up, pulling the covers off of him; he could smell the familiar scent of sausage, ham, potatoes, and eggs filling his nostrils. His stomach suddenly growled so loud, that it scared Winter, causing her to drop the dead mouse on Rum's desk. Rum groaned in disgust and shoved her away; he grabbed a tissue from the dresser and picked up the mouse by its tail. It smelled horrible, and looking at the poor thing made him sick to his stomach.

He put the mouse in Winter's cage and looked away, as she devoured her breakfast. As he grabbed his robe, he saw, on his desk, today's Prophet, and a letter from Hogwarts. It must be his school list, with trembling fingers; he opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of parchment. Surely enough, it was a list of his new text books, and other supplies he would need. He folded the letter back up and put it in his pocket; he then unfolded his copy of the new "Daily Prophet." The front page read "Psychotic Killer Still at Large," beneath the headline was a picture of his father, Colin, just swaying back and forth, looking menacingly at him. It had been five years, and Rum felt his father didn't look any different, he hadn't even aged.

_Colin Gold, the wizard behind the mass murders at the Professional Quidditch stadium in London England two years ago, is still at large. Recently, disappearances of high ranking ministry officials have occurred, and more kidnappings are happening every week. Why is he doing this? It is still unclear, but Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shaklebolt, assures us that he and the aurors are working diligently to bring the famed murderer to justice._

_Gold's brother in-law, Carrick Potts and head of the auror department, is confident that they are hot on Gold's trail and will be making progress soon. Meanwhile, Potts is raising Gold's son, Rumford Gold, who is currently attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….._

Rum through the paper down in disgust, knocking over his Hogwarts letter and scarring Winter in the process. A shiny piece of medal caught his eye, as it rolled under the bed. He kneeled down, and reached around for it; his hand felt the cold object. He pulled it out from under the bed, and gazed at it in amazement at the new Quidditch badge that gleamed back at him in the sunlight that was creeping through the blinds, he had been made Quidditch Captain. He ran downstairs, nearly tripping over his feet. The kitchen was a mess, as it always was when his aunt cooked; the living room wasn't better, it was very cluttered, piles of clothes were strewn all over the place, in front of the lounger, a pair of knitting needles were knitting what appeared to be Rum's new sweater, he could make out the unfinished "R" on the front. His Aunt Veronica smiled at him, as she placed a full plate at his place at the table. His aunt had grown a bit more sickly in these troubled times, she had lost the glow he had come to be familiar with early in his childhood, and her greying hair was always unkempt, the bags under her hazel eyes grew darker each day, but the one thing that had not wavered was her smile. Her and Belle always had the brightest smiles, and you instantly felt hope whenever you saw them. Rum quickly patted Henry, their 15 year-old St. Bernard on the head, who huffed happily as he walked by. He kissed his aunt on the cheek, and handed her his letter, as he sat down to eat. He showed bits of bacon, eggs, and how into his mouth, while watching Aunt Veronica examine his list carefully. Several moments went by before she finally put the list down on the table.

"We'll have time to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning," she said, as she poured a glass of milk and placed it in front of him.

"Okay," said Rum through mouth fulls of food.

"Al should be here any minute. I'm sure he has a list as well," she said.

Rum swallowed hard, he had forgotten that Al was supposed to spend his last few weeks of summer here. This was good, he loved his aunt more than anything, but his time here without his friends was growing dull. He cleaned his plate, and ran upstairs to take a bath before company arrived.

He came back down half an hour later, wearing his favorite pair of dark blue overalls and a loose blue striped shirt, his school house colors. His aunt had the usually messy living room, looking spotless. Their heads turned towards the front door, as the faint whips of apparation could be heard outside. Apparation, the ability to transport one's self to various locations in the blink of an eye, was one thing he was anxious to learn this year. There was a knock at the door; Aunt Veronica moved to answer it, on the other side stood Al Hayworth. Al had grown a bit, as did Rum, and he was still 15, his birthday wasn't until November, whereas Rum's was back in April, but Al looked like he had been working out all summer, because his arms and chest were a lot bigger than last year, but he still had that goofy smile, and the same jet black hair that stuck up in all directions, as if he had just been electrocuted.

"Hey, mate," said Al cheerfully.

Al heaved his trunk into the kitchen, followed closely by Nina Hayworth, his mother. She was a very slender woman; she liked to look down on you with her hooked nose and snobby sense of self accomplishment. Rum didn't like the way she looked at him, she was always studying him, looking through him with those beady black eyes, as if she was staring directly at his soul.

"Hello Mrs. Hayworth," said Aunt Veronica.

"Hello Veronica….. I made you these," she said, as she handed her a tray of homemade sweets.

"Why, thank you."

"Thank you for looking after Alasdare for me."

Rum watched Al wince at the sound of his full name. He met Al in their first year at Hogwarts together, and he's always known him to hate that name, which was why everyone called him Al or Mr. Hayworth.

"It's no trouble at all, Nina. The boys and I will be fine….. Did Al get his list yet?" asked Veronica.

"He did….. this morning."

"So did Rum. I'll be taking the boys to Diagon Alley tomorrow if that's alright?"

"Yes of course… I'll leave you to it. Behave yourself, Alasdare," she said, as she kissed on the forehead.

"Muuuuuuum…. My name is Al," he groaned.

"Of course, dear."

With that, she left the house; Rum could hear the familiar whisping sound, as she apparated away. He watched his Aunt whip out her wand, and with a flick of her wrist, Al's trunk vanished.

"There. Your things are in Rum's room, Al."

"Thank you, Mrs. Potts," he said happily.

"Come on then, let's go to my room," said Rum.

The two boys raced upstairs. Once in the room, Al plopped on the bed after giving a brief "hi" to Winter, while Rum at in the chair next to his desk.

"Hey. I got a surprise…. Look." He said, as out the captain's badge.

Al's eyes went wide, as he gazed in awe at the gleaming badge.

"Wow! Brilliant! You'll be an amazing captain," he said happily.

"Thanks. I suppose with most of the team already graduated, I'll have my work cut out for me."

"I'll try out. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost my touch as keeper… And Belle will be an amazing chaser again. She had the highest goal record last year. Speaking of which, have you heard from her recently?" he asked.

"No. Not since she and her family had gone to Germany on that vacation."

"Did she tell you the story about the bookshop she found?"

"Of course."

Rum paused for a moment, thinking about how much he missed his girlfriend, Belle. They had begun dating in their fourth year; finally, after all the dancing around and flirting they had done the years before then. He had not seen her all summer, due to his father's increasing threat on the magical world, they all thought it'd be best if Belle stayed away from him until the returned to school, which was also why Al had stayed away for so long, but now all he wanted to do was hold Belle in his arms, the world seemed better whenever she was near. He could feel Al's eyes on him; the younger boy raised an eyebrow, and gave him a curious look.

"Hellllooooo? Anyone in there?"

Rum snapped out of his thoughts, and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," said Rum

"You alright, mate?"

"Yeah. I just miss Belle."

"Oh. It's only a few more weeks. We'll see her at Kings Cross station."

"I know."

"Boys!" called Aunt Veronica from downstairs.

"Yes, Aunt Veronica!"

"I need you to clear the fields; the trolls have taken to the garden again!"

"Alright!"

"Hop to it, lads!"

He looked at Al, who was flashing his trademark stupid grin.

"Well, we might as well get some practice in," said Rum.

The two boys went downstairs and out the back door.

They were outside for about three hours, stunning and tossing the gnomes over the wall. Once they were done, Veronica called them back inside for dinner. The boys washed up and sat at the table; she had made beef stew, Rum's favorite, along with rolls, potatoes, and steamed carrots. The boys cleaned their plates, as Al explained, in some detail, his entire summer, which included a professional quidditch match, helping his father at the ministry, and a visit with Belle. Rum couldn't help but cringe at his best friend's stories; he had done absolutely nothing the entire summer because of his daft father, and Al was off having the time of his life. Rum was happy for him, but only wished that he was free to be a teenager, having fun. He smiled at Al, as he finished his stories; Aunt Veronica shoved them both off to bed, they knew they had to get up bright and early.


End file.
